Finito!

fin·ished

adjective /ˈfiniSHt/  (of an action, activity, or piece of work) Having been completed or ended - a preparatory drawing for the finished painting (of a person) Having completed or ended an action or activity - they'll be finished here in an hour Having lost effectiveness, power, or prestige - he was told he was finished at the club (of an object or room) Having been given a particular decorative surface as the final stage in its manufacture or decoration - plastic-finished lining paper (of livestock) Having completed fattening before slaughter - a reduction in prices for finished cattle

Activity #22: Audiobooks and #23: Downloadable Media

I am only just starting to get into audiobooks.  As I have previously posted, I am not much of a reader, but when I found this tool I thought it was a great way for me to read without having to read (if that makes sense).  Although, I still haven't managed to get through one complete book so I guess that will be my job on the holidays?  It's funny because the first time I heard about eBooks I was on a plane.  The lady sitting next to me was practically selling me her eReader saying how convenient it was and that I should really get one because she wasn't much of a reader either, but then she started using her eReader and never looked back...sounds cliche but that pretty much how it went down.  She did a great job of selling the product actually and I was really surprised to find out that she was actually an accountant, the whole time I thought this was a new clever way of marketing!  Anyway, since then I have downloaded some eBooks, but still found that I wasn't reading them, so now I am trying audiobooks.  Let's see how that goes!

Activity #21: Youtube and Teachertube

I used the clip above this year in my Year 9 Mathematics class to show them not to let failure get in the way of achieving your dreams.  Students were able to identify with at least one famous person and see that despite their setbacks and 'failures' they still managed to get up, dust themselves off and achieve greatness.

I love using videos from Youtube and Teachertube to engage the students in the content, particularly in the anticipatory set of a lesson.  Students become really engaged in the medium with which the information is presented and may even remember more from the video than from what you have taught.  This is why I pay particular attention to selecting videos that are very relevant, otherwise I have found that the video is actually more of a distraction and a bit of light 'entertainment' rather than being educational.

Activity #20: Podcasts

The great thing about podcasts is that they give anyone a voice, much like blogging, except now people can hear your voice too.  There are definitely applications for their use in the classroom and I know that many of my colleagues are using podcasts, but I just need to find the right opportunity to utilise them in the classroom.

Activity #19: Rollyo

I can see Rollyo being a great tool in the classroom, particularly for research tasks.  So often students will choose websites that have inaccurate or irrelevant information on them and I am thinking Rollyo would be a great tool to utilise during an assignment.  However, I am conscious of the fact that if I select the websites for the students than I there will be a couple of roll on effects of this including:

1. Students may not begin/continue to develop the skill of critical analysis (i.e. reading through the information and analysing it's appropriateness) when researching.
2. Students may not understand how to determine the validity of a website or how to check the reliability of the source.
3. That as the teacher, I may narrow the point of view which the students could 'bring to the table' in any particular assignment or research task.  Allowing them to select their own websites often broadens the areas of discussion and can put a new spin on a topic.

It is because of these reasons that I will carefully consider Rollyo's use in my classroom before incorporating it.

Activity #18: Wikis

Wikis are a great resource to have in the classroom.  I have been using Wikis in my classes for the past year and have found it a really engaging tool for students to use.  The only problem has been the work that has gone into setting up the Wikis and monitoring them.  I am currently looking at ways to solve these problems before I get my Year 12's using Wikis for their course this year...

Activity #17: Del.icio.us

Setting up my Delicious account came at such a good time.  I have just been researching how to get all my favourites from my school laptop to my home PC because I keep wanting to use websites that I use at school from home.  Finally, I have found an easy way to do this with Delicious.  I really like that I can look at what other people have tagged (curiousity did kill the cat after all).

Activity #16: Subscribing

Where do you draw the line with your subscriptions?  I have already subscribed to a number of different blogs and websites, but don't want to overload my Google Reader page because I know that if there is too much information there I won't be bothered to scroll through the page and see all the updates.  I think that I will have to prioritise the pages that I subscribe to and be very selective.

Activity #15: RSS

RSS = AWESOME! 

I am definitely a fan of this, however, the only problem is I just keep subscribing to all these different websites.  I can't wait to develop some different uses for this in the classroom.  I think it will be a great tool for keeping students up-to-date with subject specific information.

Activity #14: Facebook

Facebook is such a useful website.
At first I was hesitant to use it,
Cause I didn't know much about how it worked.
Everyone at university had a profile, so I decided to try it out.
Being friends with someone has never been so easy.
Of course, the more friends you have the cooler you are right?
Often find myself wasting a lot of time finding out what my friends are up to,
Keeps me from watching TV at least!

Since I am from Queensland, FB has definitely been a great way to stay in touch with my friends and family up there (and vice versa).  It's so much easier than emailing or writing letters, all I have to do is update my status and my friends know that I am engaged or married or sick or tired.  FB have revolutionised the transfer of information making it so much easier, the problem is where does it stop?  How much is too much information?  And what do other people really want to know about you?  I will leave that for you to decide.

Activity #13: MySpace

MySpace was so cool when I was at University, then Facebook came out and no one talked about MySpace anymore.  I didn't even know that they had updated their page!  It just used to take so long to load the pages and upload photos.  The thing I liked about MySpace was that you were able to personalise your page a lot more with backgrounds and music, but that was probably the thing that also made it so slow. 

If I had to choose between MySpace and Facebook, I would choose Facebook because it is easily accessible and very user friendly.  However, I just searched the AppStore and found a MySpace App for my iPhone so I think I am going to explore that and see how it goes.  At the moment, I am getting annoyed with all of the spam that I am getting through Facebook so it might be time for a change.

I can definitely see why MySpace is more appealing to the younger population, as you are able to have more fun with your profile and the site has more of a 'wow' factor.  Facebook is suited to the older demographic because it is more about connecting people and sharing information.  Of course it still has the fun elements of different games and a variety of applications which you can engage in, but I believe Facebook is definitely the best way to connect people and stay in touch regardless of the distance between each other. 

Tag Galaxy

On the topic on Flickr, I thought I would share a site that I have been using for a few years which I think is really cool.  When you arrive at the homepage you use the search tool provided to enter in a keyword and the site looks through all the tags in Flickr relating to your word.  You can continue to narrow your search by selecting one of the 'planets' that orbit your initial keyword.


When you are happy with the combination of words select the 'planet' in the centre that represents your combination and Tag Galaxy places all of the photos on this 3D sphere that you can spin and play around with, selecting images that you want to view.  Have a go, it's really cool!  Above is an example of the planet you end up with and this is the site http://taggalaxy.com/.

Activity #12: Flickr

North korean army Pyongyang North Korea 북한, a photo by Eric Lafforgue on Flickr.

A woman in traditional dress in the middle of hundreds of soldiers who were going to a parade in Pyongyang. I wonder why she was there?  [My first 'hook up' blog from Flickr]

Activity #11: Library Thing

I'm not exactly sure what I think about the Library thing.  It is a really cool way to catalogue your books and the books you want to read, but I am not sure how much I would use it considering that I barely read.  Maybe this is the thing that will help me get motivated to read more...

One way I am thinking of incorporating this tool into the school setting is by starting up a catalogue for my department with all of our books, which the students could then access too.  The students could add their favourite books which they have read or used from our department leaving reviews for other students to look at too.  Although, I'm afraid this might be doubling up on the information the library has already.

Activity #10: Online Image Generators

Wow!  So many cool ways to display texts and have fun with images.  I have already started using this for my Moodle page and no doubt will incorporate it in other areas.

The Generator Blog FD Flickr Toys
I had some fun playing around with this 'toy'.  Really liked the usability and variety of presentation methods available.  Below is a photo from taken from the pool area at Tokoriki Island Resort in Fiji (fantastic place, highly recommend it - hot tip = request SPV#4) transformed using the jigsaw application from this site.

Image Chef
Also a really fun site.  Probably preferred the Flickr Toys site that I have mentioned above, but I still enjoyed playing around with text types and different applications.

Activity #9: Virtual Worlds

I honestly don't know what to think or say about Second Life.  Prior to this course, I had heard about this opportunity (if that's what you call it) to have a second life and really felt uncomfortable with this concept.  It reminded me of the movie that I saw called 'Surrogates' starring Bruce Willis; great movie, but the whole idea of creating a world where you essentially choose your ideal body, job, lifestyle, and let that body live through your control on the computer really didn't appeal to me.  I mean, what is wrong with your God given body in the 'real world'?  In contrast, I found the site 'Get A First Life' to be hilarious (although at times inappropriate).  It was a great piece of comedic relief after having watched several clips on Second Life and exploring the site.  Personally, I think I would struggle to use this as a teaching tool.

'Exit Reality', again, the name itself says it all.  I signed up to this site to try and view some websites in 3D.  I thought it was a great concept and really quite a shift in your mindset particularly because we are accustomed to viewing websites as 2D.  I didn't know what site to try first, so I tried Facebook.  I found that it took a while to load, but it was fun to navigate through and see all the different ways that the usual 2D information was presented in 3D.  Once again, not sure that I would use this as a teaching tool, but I will continue to think about possible ways of including it in the curriculum because it was quite fun and engaging.

Activity #8: iGoogle

My iGoogle homepage and some pictures from the Google workplace.

Q: Do I like iGoogle?
A: It is now officially my homepage!  How did I not already know about this?  iGoogle is such a great way to get a quick glimpse of all the things you love and want to know about, without having to do the searching yourself. 

Q: What improvements would you suggest to Google?
A: I have been fiddling around with iGoogle for a few hours and I am still finding new ways of exploring this great resource.  No complaints yet, but maybe after some more time on the site I might have a few suggestions.

Q: Do I want to work at Google?
A: YES!  Hire me now.  The workplace looks awesome and I am really intrigued to find out if it really is as good as they say on the YouTube clips.  From watching the two clips, it really seems like the employees are happy and I think that Google has 'hit the nail on the head' in terms of ensuring that their staff feel comfortable and valued in the workplace.  My mind is racing with thoughts of how other companies and organisations (maybe even schools) could implement these strategies in their workplace.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Activity #7: Google Books

Activity #6: Google Maps

Without Google Maps and my iPhone I am not sure I would be sitting in this chair today...okay so that is a slight over exaggeration, but I have found Google Maps to be an excellent resource for my personal use.  It has been so handy having Google Maps on my iPhone whenever I am out and about, particularly if I am travelling somewhere new.  Originally from Townsville, I moved down to Melbourne last year and because I am so unfamiliar with the city I am pretty much always using Google Maps for directions.  However, from an educational perspective, I have not really found an appropriate time to utilise this resource in a formal classroom setting.  But I am sure that with the number of 'smartphones' that the students have, Google Maps will certainly be used this year for the Year 9 City Day.

Here is a little tribute to my hometown!
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=townsville&aq=&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=34.164986,86.220703&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Townsville+Queensland&ll=-19.256701,146.293945&spn=1.12791,3.740845&z=9

Activity #5: Google Docs

WHAT DID I THINK OF GOOGLE DOCS?

• Very similar to Microsoft.
• Easy to use.
• I like that I can access my documents regardless of what computer I am on.
• Looking forward to exploring this resource more!

The Google Docs Presentation I created for my Year 9 Mathematics class: https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhf4w6sd_0hp2jtcgb

Activity #4: Web 2.0

Until about a year ago, I had no idea why I kept seeing "2.0" after everything.  I thought it must have been a craze or something and I was contemplating including it in all my curriculum documents (not really, although after reading the suggested articles perhaps a I should - a shake up in the educational system...).  Once I finally did a little bit of research and started to understand the significance of including 2.0 in phrases I was able to make sense of why people were using this terminology. 

[image taken from http://library2pointoh.fi/]

After reading the suggested articles for this activity, I was really excited about the interactive nature of Library 2.0, particularly from a schooling perspective.  I definitely agree with the statement that libraries are "at a crossroads" because of the application of Web 2.0 within the library environment.  However, would the library user only be able to craft and modify library services or would the interactivity extend beyond this? 

We can already see with Wikipedia that the exchange of information can be a two-way street, but how do we ensure the accuracy and validity of the information presented is a question I am still trying to find an answer to?

Activity #2: Create A Blog



I thought I would get a bit creative with my second blog...

 

Activity #1: About the Program

I have finally started my blogging!  After my wedding and honeymoon to Fiji, I am back at school and was eager to begin this course.  Like many of the other participants, I am very excited to see the variety of skills that I am going to learn throughout this course.  As I am very passionate about technology and its' use in the classroom, I can't wait to use these tools to engage my students in meaningful learning.